Who will buy the Apple Watch and when?
The Apple Watch has gained a lot of attention since it was announced late last year. In this guest post Rob Marston unpacks who will buy it and what that means for marketers.
Today Apple has again launched an oxymoron – a watch that is less about time-telling and more about communicating, just as the iPhone is less about calling and more about apps, taking selfies, texting with emoticons and snap chatting your latest latte. But the Apple Watch will change the humble watch and it will change tech gadgetry for a whole sweep of demographics over time.
This is by no means the first smart watch – Apple understands the first mouse doesn’t get the cheese, but it is the first mass-market appeal smart watch relying exclusively on subscribing to the Apple ecosytem.
The well-known Diffusion of Innovators Curve seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. Who will be the first to own depends on how this device serves their life – fashion, status or simply because they are a gadget nerd. Let’s look at who really will buy it. Who will drive this gadget past a fad and into future? And not just who, but why and how?
I know this is the bleeding obvious and genius minds at Apple would have thought of it already- wouldn’t they?- but the problem with the watch screen is that it’s too small for anyone over 40 to be bothered with.
You lost me the moment you said iSheep.
is it just me or has the whole apple fad lost steam?
product announcements don’t seem to be forcing their way into news and social media streams like they used to.
It will probably only be word by people who knew they weren’t going to get laid anyway…
Maybe it is further fragmenting of a fragmented marketing/comms world.
The isheep and fanboys are located in their own cyber corner, having intense conversations with each other. They no longer need or want to be part of the “main stream” social media space. Just as they long ago left the dinosaur MSM.
Thanks for your comments guys. This is certainly an interesting TIMES (see what I did there) for the Watch-ables market.
I went to the Apple Store today and tried one on and if you are already signed into the Apple ecosystem then you wont be disappointed by its understated and practical design – Sir Jony Ive didn’t come from the Prince Philip School of knighthoods that’s for sure.
The watch they let you try on is on a constant demo loop, which is actually pretty useless to let you play with the watches features – there is a fully functioning one there too, but you don’t get to try it on. (@Peter Rush – I am over 40 and had no problem with the screen size)
As I’d booked an appointment I got one of the blue t-shirt brigade (one of the iSheep @Scott Rhodie) to take me through it. For a guy who has seen a fair few gadgets I was actually very impressed. Of course there are some gimmicks (sending heartbeat to other Apple Watch owner and the fancy new strap that is actually really awkward to put on for first timers) but it had some real smarts.
Siri might even get shown some love as S/He was incredibly accurate, even in a noisy store. The new ‘haptic input’ (i.e. pressing the screen harder for different menus) is also pretty smart and got me wondering why they don’t do this on the iPhone. Apple features Passbook on the apps homescreen as the Trojan Horse for its integration with Apple Pay (rumoured to be in Australia by Q3)
You clearly have to be locked into the Apple ecosystem to truly enjoy its integration, the watch is actually pretty hamstrung without a phone, only giving very basic information compared to its ability – still in line with the leading smart watches however.
Let’s not forget, this is first generation product. Do you remember seeing an iPod for the first time? It was expensive compared to MiniDisc or MP3 players of the time or even the Zen MP3 players, still it was a revolution for the category. Reflecting today the iPod was massive, clunky, with a small screen, crap graphics, limited functionality and an orange back light (what was that about. Mr Ive wouldn’t have allowed that). Fast forward 14 years and the iPod doesn’t even exist in anything like its original form. 14 years from now, who knows if there will even be a watch, but there is no doubt it will be a wearable
Full disclosure…..I ordered one 🙂
If you don’t mind your “watch” battery going flat after 3 hours use, go ahead and spend your money. I’ll stick to my “analogue” one with the sweep second hand that doesn’t need to tell me if I’m late for my bikrum yoga lesson, or my catch-up for a handcrafted brew with my hipster friends .
digital watches weren’t cool in the 90s and they’re not cool now.
Does it have to be cool? Can’t it just be useful?